I Bleed For You

Chapter 9

Princess Damina of Dodo Kingdom was now in another land called Abumu where she ran off to during the invasion of the Witch, the mother to a man she had always loved. She hissed as she remained seated near the window of the bar she was inside with a bartender standing before her. She could not possibly call what happened two years back in her father's palace a war, no, that was not a war but a disgrace. She had never seen a dragon until that day and having heard that her father was dead she had imagined many ways Samata must have used the dragon to kill her father, the King of Dodo. 

The bartender was now impatient and he wanted to leave then she regained herself and asked for a cup of drink. She was offered one and it tasted strange. She sighed again, not sure if where she had been all these while was where she was meant to be. She had been hiding her identity the very day she set her feet in the land of Abumu because she knew that many who hated her father in the land of Abumu would be glad to kill her. 

She thought of Akiza and shook her head, sipped her drink with disdain. He was a very handsome man, very romantic too but lacked manners when provoked. She could tell he was not with his mother when the woman came for her father but then she was not sure what to think of him now. She neither could tell if she still loved him as before nor tell if she was angry with him for allowing his mother, aiding her or encouraging her to bring war to her father's palace. She stood up abruptly and wanted to pay and leave the bar immediately because some of the most feared men of the city were already entering to have their drink. One of them approached her and stood before her, placing both palms on the table in her front. She avoided his eyes as if he wasn't there but the man was not ready to leave.

"Mind if I buy you another cup of drink?" he asked but Damina ignored him. The man reached for her face with his right hand but she shoved it off her face, now looking directly to his eyes.

"Oh wow, so you have nerves. Okay, here is the thing, I am not a bad guy, I'm..."

"You smell like one" Damina spoke rudely and beckoned on the bar man. When the bar man approached the man looked at him angrily and he walked away without being asked to. The man, with his rotten teeth and his lustful eyes roaming all over Damina's body he said, "I could take anything from anyone but not from you. You don't look like us, you, a foreigner who should be kind enough. It is said that a foreigner's kindness paves way for him but you are different. You think I'm seeing you for the first time, no, I have been observing you and now you will..." Before he could finish Damina took hold of the cup of drink and pour the remaining drink into his eyes and while the man was trying to recover from the shock she ran outside. Some men who came with the man that had spoken to her went after her but she mounted a horse and rode away. The owner of the horse ran outside and sat on the ground crying.

******

In the land of Akozo, King Zakiza could no longer sleep and he rose from the bed, walked towards the wall where he hung his father's sword and unhung it, sat back on the bed and began to run his fingers on it, having drawn it out of its sheath. The wife, Lume noticed he was seated and sat up too.

"My love, you are awake today again. What is making you sleepless at nights?" she inquired. He looked at her and smiled. 

"I have been speaking alot with the Chief Gaurd, your friend" he joked and cleared his throat. "He seems to be so concerned about me. He knew that I am afraid of something"

"What are you afraid of my love. If your Chief Guard is concerned about you then I am dead concerned too. Tell me what it is that bothers you? Has any of the slaves brought back from my land, Okute done anything wrong?" she wanted to know but what was bothering the King was far from that. He could smell his own death and this was a feeling strange even to him. He had heard his father say that when death knocks one tends to be restless.  He turned and dropped the sword on the bed and held his wife's hands. 

"I have this feeling that war is coming to us and that this war is coming to take something very important from this Kingdom. I need you to know this; if anything happens to me you must never forget..."

"Please stop this" the wife was worried. She got off the bed and walked up to the wardrobe and stood before it. She could not explain why she went there but it seemed she just wanted to escape the reality that was hunting her. She had seen in her dream two days back where her husband died while eating with her and she didn't want to tell him about it. But this? this fear in his heart was sending bad signals to her and she must do something about it. She was pregnant and she felt that early morning that it would be good to let him know about it, hoping it could make him stand and fight whatever it was that was coming to claim his life. She turned abruptly and spoke, "I'm pregnant"

The husband didn't think he heard her clearly but he knew she would not joke with something like that. He rose from his bed and approached her, while looking directly at her tummy. She held it with her left palm and continued to stare right into his eyes. The King held her by the shoulders and then spoke with a shaky voice, "Why didn't you tell me all these while?"

"I was going to make it a surprise when I find you in a good mood but it seems you have not been helping me, for gloomy has your face remained for days now. I am pregnant and I am not happy I am telling you this when I myself am not happy" She tried to walk back to the bed but the King's joy needed to be expressed. He held onto her and kissed her lips. 

"It must be a baby boy" He said and she forced a smile.

"What if it is a girl?" she asked with a smile on her lips and tears in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, she will be having her father inside of her" he said and chuckled.

"Her father is afraid. You want her to be afraid?" She asked.

"No, never" he shook his head.

"Then fight it. You have not been yourself the very day you lost your father to the hands of the woman he first married before your mother but that isn't going to be your end. I always encouraged you to fight it, fight that pain my love. When you look at me may I be enough weapon with which you can use to fight your regrets, the pains of your lose, when you look at me let me be enough unless there is something you aren't telling me which is secretly eating you up"

"Yes there is" he suddenly confessed and his wife sighed and walked away from him. She wasn't happy he had hid something from her. 

*****

Aromo, found herself in the same village of Abumu and there she decided to nest until she was ready to start the life she knew; sorcery. She first went to the market of Abumu to look around and probably make new friends. That same day Princess Damina who was also in the land of Abumu and had gone to the same village market to sell the horse she had stollen to escape with at the bar where she was confronted by some men was seen standing with a buyer. When Aromo sighted her she didn't want to believe she was looking at the daughter of the King of Dodo. She needed to go closer to her while covering her face a bit with her headtie as she was well aware that Princess Damina knew her too well and would recognise her if she didn't hide her face. When she had gone closer she saw clearly that she was the one. She wondered how she was able to get there but when she remembered that she was also there in the land of Abumu she decided she wasn't going to allow Princess Damina move away from her sight without knowing where she was headed to. She waited. After Damina had sold the horse, Aromo was following her as she walked away and headed towards the small hut where she camped. She had looked back several times to ensure that she was not being followed before she took the pathway leading to the hut. Aromo who saw her entering the hut decided to pay her a visit. When Aromo was at the door she was about to push it open gently when she felt a sharp object pricking her from the back and she knew at once that Damina had sneaked out through the back door of the hut and had sneaked up on her from the back. She raised both hands up.

"Tell me exactly why you have been following me from the market. Oh you thought I didn't see you while your funny eyes peeped on me? Speak or I run you through!!!" she commanded.

"You have to drop the weapon and allow me turn so you can see me properly" said Aromo but Damina was not ready to grant her request. "Listen I am from your land Princess" spoke Aromo and at that moment Princess Damina allowed her to turn and face her. When both were facing each other Princess Damina opened her mouth slightly in shock for she knew the woman standing before her.

"I was following you because I recognized you and I needed to speak with you" said Aromo. Damina didn't expect this and she knew that Aromo must have alot of things to tell her about Dodo Kingdom, about how her father the King died and also about Akiza. She lowered the weapon in her hand.

"Samata, Akiza's mother has taken control of Dodo Kingdom and your father was burnt alive so I heard" she spoke and Damina didn't blink an eye.

*****

That same morning while the King of Akozo tried to make his wife, Lume to understand that the reason behind his nightmares even though had a lot to do with the demise of the woman he first found love with he was still much more heartbroken over the death of his father. The wife didn't need to be fooled but one thing she was aware of was the fact that even though the kind still missed someone he thought he was going to marry many years ago who later died in the hands of his best friend he still had love for her as his wife and the woman who was now carrying his child. She held his face as he was standing there confessing his love for her and trying his best to make her trust in his love for her.

"I believe you my king. When she died you didn't work on your emotions and then you stayed away from women, which made it impossible for someone to replace her in your heart. You allowed the pain of loosing her get to your heart and soul and now it is hard to know which one to blame for your mood swings; your father's death in the hands of your step mother or your fiance's death in the hands of your best friend"

As they were still standing there at the balcony that early morning they began to hear the growling of the dragon as it was flying straight to the palace. It was Samata arriving with the army of Dodo Kingdom and her son Akiza.